Saussure For Beginners

Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book

by W. Terrence Gordon, Abbe Lubell (illustrator)

A concise, accessible introduction to the great linguist who shaped the study of language for the 20th century, Saussure for Beginners puts the challenging ideas of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) into clear and illuminating terms, focusing on the unifying principles of his teachings and showing how his thoughts on linguistics migrated to anthropology.

Ferdinand de Saussure’s work is so powerful that it not only redefined modern linguistics, it also opened our minds to new ways of approaching anthropology, literary criticism, and psychoanalysis. Saussure felt that 19th century linguistics avoided hard questions about what language is and how it works. By 1911, he had taught a general linguistics course only three times. Upon his death, however, his students were so inspired by his teachings that they published them as the “Course in General Linguistics.”

Saussure For Beginners takes you through this course, points out the unifying principles, and shows how these ideas migrated from linguistics to other subjects.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics

127 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Sanjay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Even though some of the ideas went way over the head, it was an engaging and enlightening read.

[Monis Siddiqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I haven't read any detailed works on linguistics, I felt great reading this introduction to Saussure. It gives a good account on what linguistics is about and brings a lot of "unknown" unknowns into the "known" unknowns territory. I always imagined myself to study linguistics after I have studied a few different languages properly so it might be a while before I dive deeper into the subject.

If you are like me you will enjoy this book. Keep in mind that even though it has nice pictures, it is still somewhat dense so make sure you are not completely confused before moving onto the subsequent topics as the terminology builds up on previous concepts. You obviously will not be able to understand any of the concepts deeply so you will still have lots of questions, but that is the tradeoff you should expect with beginner books. Happy reading!

[Eridani Jara R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quería introducirme mucho más en lo que es la lingüística, y definitivamente este libro me ayudó, recordé conceptos que creí olvidados, entendí temas que nunca comprendí del todo y volví a enamorarme de esta ciencia.
Es un libro muy ágil de leer, tiene muchos dibujos que ayudan a captar realmente las palabras de Saussure, explica de forma muy sencilla cada una de las cosas y es realmente divertido. No quería soltar el libro, estaba muy entretenida, pasé la mejor tarde con él, me encantó.
Hay momentos en los que me gustaría que hubiese ahondado más en algunos detalles, pero en general, fue un libro muy informativo y grato.

[ember x · Rating 1 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the library because I reckon I'd benefit from a fundamental understanding of Saussure before diving into more difficult books like Barthes. I learned nothing from this book. nothing against diagrams and pictures in a beginner's book, but the layout is in quite a mess, 5 different fonts used in a single page, I kinda gave up midway.

[Afshin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book of "For Beginners" series that I read and frankly, I didn't find it's approach and illustrations very helpful or amusing! It's chaotic and disorganized. My hope to find a simple way of teaching Saussure through this book was totally futile. A total disappointment!

[Deniz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Packs a lot. The drawings are really fun. I still don't comprehend what Saussure means by "linguistic meaning" and "linguistic value". I also don't think it was proofread very carefully. I wanted an intro before embarking on CGL (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/course-...) and for that it served its purpose.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.

I had no idea who Saussure was when I entered the contest... I thought he was a philosopher. Well, I was wrong - he was a language theorist. I was getting completely befuddled reading it because I would start to understand it and then the authors threw a new wrench into it.... and about halfway through the author explained that this is normal. So I continued reading and I think that I got a handle on Saussure.

I did enjoy it, but I am especially happy to find this series. There are many titles in it that I would like to find; and the possibility of additional titles is quite large.

[AOKHI]

Saussure and Pierce are the pioneers of "linguistics". They have own contexts and specification of sign reading. I have reading Semiotics for beginners Of Paul Cobley and Litza Jans. Maybe this books have similiarity with Gordon's work.

[Yusnia Sakti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fotokopi buku ini buat persiapa makul Theory of Literature nya Pak Andhy Nurmansyah, yeah lumayan ngerti lah. Buku nya ndak membosankan, ada penggambaran-penggambaran (semacam komik) yang membantu penjelasan dalam bentuk tertulis.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fine introduction.

[Kenia Arredondo medellín · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿No hay uno de Saussure para los principiantes de los principiantes?

[Barbara White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saussure for Beginners is very thought provoking and informative. It is not an easy book to read through. I enjoyed the graphics. Very well done.

[Kristoporus Primeloka · Rating 2 out of 5]

apapu yang mengatakan kepada kita tentang sesuatu yang lain daripada dirinya sendiri adalah tanda.